The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced Tuesday a series of changes to its senior management team, completing an overhaul of the C$337 billion ($263 billion) fund’s investment leadership.
The reshuffling includes the forthcoming departure of senior managing director Pierre Lavallée, who had served as the pension manager’s global head of investment partnerships since 2015. He will be leaving CPPIB on May 2 after six years with the fund.
Lavallée’s exit follows four other senior-level departures, including most recently infrastructure chief Cressida Hogg. In February, CPPIB’s president and CEO Mark Machin announced the departures of chief operating officer Nick Zelenczuck, public markets head Eric Wetlaufer, and former real assets chief Graeme Eadie.
At the time, Machin said the pension manager was in the process of a “planned renewal of senior management,” intended to “inject fresh perspectives, experiences, and ideas” into the organization. Since becoming CEO in June 2016, Machin has made a number of senior-level appointments and established a new real assets group.
[II Deep Dive: CPPIB Infrastructure Chief Is Out, Adding to Turnover]
Tuesday’s announcement completes the “renewal” process, which includes four internal promotions to the pension fund’s senior management team, according to the CPPIB statement.
John Graham, head of principal credit investments, has been appointed a senior managing director, with his role expanded to include oversight of private real-estate debt and public credit. CPPIB’s head of Asia, Suyi Kim, has been promoted to senior managing director and head of Asia Pacific, while Asian private equity head Deborah Orida has been named senior managing director and global head of active equities.
Finally, Poul Winslow, head of thematic investing and external portfolio management, will now oversee global capital markets and factor investing as a senior managing director.
“The appointment of John, Suyi, Deborah, and Poul, who between them have almost 40 years of collective experience at CPPIB alone, reflects not only our deep bench strength but also how the organization is moving ahead on an exciting phase of growth,” Machin said in the statement.
In addition to the new appointments, senior managing director Shane Feeney will transition from global head of private investments to global head of private equity. As part of his new role, Feeney will oversee direct private equity, funds, secondaries, co-investments, and the Asia private equity teams.
CPPIB said the pension fund is also replacing the chief operating officer role with a chief technology and data officer, with plans to announce the appointment at a later date.
